Fred Akers (March 17, 1938 – December 7, 2020) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player and coach. He served as head football coach at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

(1975–1976), the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

(1977–1986), and

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

(1987–1990), compiling a career

record of 108–75–3.

Coaching career

Akers' notable accomplishments as head coach at Texas include national title chances in 1977 and 1983. In both of those years, Texas went undefeated in the regular season only to lose in the

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

. Akers coached

Earl Campbell Earl Christian Campbell (born March 29, 1955), nicknamed "the Tyler Rose", is an American former professional football player who played as a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. Kn ...

in his

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

-winning 1977 season. Akers received criticism from those who believed he failed to match the standard set by previous head coach

Darrell Royal Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an All-American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Mississippi State University (1954–1955), the University of Washington (1956), and the University of Texas (1957� ...

. Twice in his tenure was the team undefeated and ranked in the top 2 of the AP Poll and twice they lost in the ensuing bowl game. However, much of that was mitigated by an impressive overall record and a winning mark against

Barry Switzer Barry Layne Switzer (born October 5, 1937) is a former American football coach and player. He served for 16 years as head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and four years as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...

of the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

, who was 3–0–1 against Texas before Akers came along. However, in Akers' last five years he struggled against Oklahoma, going 1–3–1, and against

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, losing his last three games to the Aggies by an average margin of 23 points. Akers drew ire from the Texas faithful for losing

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

s at the end of four consecutive seasons (1982–1985). During his tenure in 1978, Akers was lampooned by future

Bloom County ''Bloom County'' is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, wh ...

creator

Berke Breathed Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed (; born June 21, 1957) is an American cartoonist, children's book author, director, and screenwriter, known for his comic strips ''Bloom County'', '' Outland'', and ''Opus''. ''Bloom County'' earned Breathed the Pu ...

, whose student strip

The Academia Waltz ''The Academia Waltz'' was Berkeley Breathed's first comic strip, published daily from 1978 to 1979 in ''The Daily Texan'' at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was a student. The strip focused primarily on college life, although it som ...

appeared in the school newspaper. In 1986, after notching Texas' first losing record in 30 years, Akers left to become the head football coach at

, replacing

Leon Burtnett James Leon Burtnett (May 30, 1943 – June 1, 2021) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Purdue University from 1982 to 1986, compiling a record of 21–34–1. He was a sales professional at Central Chevrolet ...

. The Akers' hiring caused starting quarterback

Jeff George Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

to transfer, due to Akers' running style offense as compared to Burtnett's passing offense. At Purdue, Akers was not nearly as successful as he had been at Texas; his teams only won 12 games in four years, and after the worst season in Purdue's history in 1990 amidst discipline problems, Akers was asked to resign. Akers was rumored as a candidate for the

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

job in 1993, that ultimately went to

Chuck Reedy Charles Reedy (born May 31, 1949) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Baylor University from 1993 to 1996, compiling a record of 23–22. Prior to replacing future College Football Hall of Fame induct ...

, but the Purdue post proved to be his final college coaching post. In 1999, Akers served as head coach of the

Shreveport Knights The Shreveport Knights were a professional American football team that played during the 1999 season as part of the Regional Football League. They played their home games at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The team was announced as ...

in the short-lived professional

Regional Football League The Regional Football League (RFL) was an american football minor league formed to be the self-styled "major league of spring football." Established in 1997, the league played a single season, 1999, and then ceased operations. History The RFL s ...

Personal life

Akers was a member of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

Fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

. In August 2008, Akers lived in

Horseshoe Bay, Texas Horseshoe Bay is a city in Llano and Burnet counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Situated on Lake Lyndon B. Johnson and the south branch of the Colorado River, it is known in the region for its golf courses, hotel and resort, and water sports. ...

. Fred Akers died on December 7, 2020. He was 82 years old.

Head coaching record

College

RFL

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akers, Fred 1938 births 2020 deaths Arkansas Razorbacks football players Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football coaches High school football coaches in Texas People from Blytheville, Arkansas People from Horseshoe Bay, Texas Coaches of American football from Arkansas Players of American football from Arkansas